The Power of Rail: Urban Chicago

[Metro Jacksonville]

The Power of Rail: Urban Chicago



Urban Chicago gives Jacksonville a visual glimpse of what inner core neighborhoods can resemble when a community makes a significant investment in rail-based infrastructure.



Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-nov-the-power-of-rail-urban-chicago

[scaleybark]

Chicago is a great city.  Their train system beats the automotive commute by a long shot.  If you ever fly in, the train is the most reliable way to get downtown.  It is showing its age, however.

You can pick up a terrific transit map pamphlet their stations.  It shows all of the major downtown bus lines and all of the train lines, along with hotels and attractions.  It is very easy to read and it makes sense.  They have a pdf of it on their web site.  Their web site can also show you exactly where a bus is on its route, and how long it will take for it to reach a particular stop.  I don't know if you can access this information using a cell phone.  That would be useful.

That bicyclist is taking a nasty spill.

Maps:
http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/brochures/downtown_sightseeing_guide.pdf 
http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_information/maps/default.aspx

[JeffreyS]

MY kind of town.

[ProjectMaximus]

Man, thanks for the photo tour. I can't believe it's been over two months since I moved away...

[Captain Zissou]

Nice shot of the guy falling off his bike. It's at the beginning of the streeterville section

[DemocraticNole]

Chicago is a great city. However, it has greatly benefited from the fact it was mostly developed prior to World War II. The city had over 1 million residents by 1890, over 2 million by 1910, and over 3 million by 1930. Since this was an era before the automobile was the primary mode of transportation, the city is laid out in a manner that is very walkable and conducive to public transportation. There are no sprawling roads like Atlantic Blvd. within the city limits. Many of their main thoroughfares are two lanes, which causes severe traffic congestion. It is simply easier to take public transit there, much like New York.

Jacksonville is never going to change if its residents don't change their mindset that everyone has to drive everywhere.

[thelakelander]

I don't think its the residents that need to change.  Supply the residents with the ingredients needed for a successful urban core and I think a lot of people will be quite suprised at the results.  For proof, check out what is going on in Dallas, Charlotte, Houston and Salt Lake City since they introduced various forms of rail in their urban landscape.

[Hurricane]

I can't believe you caught a pic of the chic falling off her bike!  Priceless.  CHI Town is the Shiznit.  We have a lot to learn from that city, other than the crime factor of course...

[hillary supporter]

Hear hear Lakelander!  Nov artwalk showed off some great urban artlofts in downtown. Word has it there some great spaces along tallyrand blvd, with some cool  local music happening.

[stjr]

Lincoln Park is a 1,200 acre (4.9 km², 1.875 mi²) park along Chicago, Illinois' lakefront facing Lake Michigan.

The park stretches from North Avenue (1600 N) on the south to Foster (5200 N), just north of the Lake Shore Drive terminus at North Hollywood Avenue. It is Chicago's largest public park. Its recreational facilities include 15 baseball areas, 6 basketball courts, 2 softball courts, 35 tennis courts, 163 volley ball courts, field houses, and a golf course. It includes a number of harbours with boating facilities, as well as public beaches. There are landscaped gardens, a zoo, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and a theater on the lake with regular outdoor performances during the summer.

The above is exactly why we need to take the Shipyards AND the JEA sites and make them public spaces.  People living in urban areas, especially with kids, need these amenities in the urban environment!

Chicago looks clean, neat, uncluttered, well maintained, and green in nearly all these shots across many neighborhoods.  I don't think much of Jax looks this nice along our streets.  Also, every building just about has a street friendly ground level facade featuring either retail or residential uses.  And, the old buildings are well preserve and favorably mixed with interesting and varying  styles of new architecture.  Nothing boring or repetitious here.  Interesting, too, that none of the streets seemed to be over run with too many cars, especially in light of the population density.  Where is the traffic?  On the rails? 

Jax, are we listening and looking??

[thecatspjs]

It's true that there aren't many cities better than Chicago for sheer walkability. Probably only New York is truly better or equal. There are tons of green spaces in the city -- it's a "pet project" of Mayor Daley to build all these parks. There is nothing comparable to the lakefront/Lincoln Park area and Wrigleyville is the best place I have ever lived. I would love to see some of this kind of development in Jax (recent transplant that I am) BUT. There are a lot of downsides to things too -- the rail line (CTA) is constantly broke and needing to be bailed out by the state. They are always shutting down or threatening to shut down bus lines and they're always in the neighborhoods on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. They have done a lot of improvement on the stations and el platforms in the last 5 years, but before that, most of the subway stops smelled horrible and were filthy. Because of all the budget cuts, there are no conductors on the el and they've had to cut back on the number of trains and cars on each train. So rush hour travel is often a nightmare -- waiting through 6 or 7 cars for one to have 1/2 foot of cubic space to squeeze into, etc. Last winter the city did not do any snow removal on side streets (and we had TONS of snow) for 3 days or more because they would not pay the plow drivers overtime. Most of the side streets are residential, so blocks had to organize and plow their own streets if they wanted to move their cars. Not to mention the streets are in terrible shape because of the weather -- and there is *always* construction mucking things up. So much corrupt government from city to county to state here that the road crews are all no-bid appointments and take their damn sweet time to get the work done. Add to that privatized parking meters (if you can even find a spot -- and it used to be a quarter for 30 minutes, now it's 2 bucks), red light cameras at every intersection (more revenue!), taxi drivers who are charging $3 or more just to set foot in the cab because gas prices got so high...really the only reliable transportation is your own feet! Chicago also has the highest sales tax in the country (10.25%), ridiculous property taxes ($8500 for my 2100 sq. ft this year), and lousy weather. As for the lack of traffic in the pix, I'd guess from the crowded sidewalks on Michigan Ave. that they were taken on a weekend. Weekday traffic in the Loop is crazy, and weekend traffic in some northside neighborhoods where there is shopping is insane. And there was *clearly* not a home Cubs game the day of those pictures either - it looks like Mardi Gras on the streets around Wrigley for home games. I hate it and I miss it so much all at the same time. All this to say there is good and bad about every place -- I see lots of good in Jax since I'm new to it all, and I can see *definite* room for improvement. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later.

[Steve]

^Boston is another phenominal city in terms of walkability.

[thelakelander]

There are a lot of downsides to things too -- the rail line (CTA) is constantly broke and needing to be bailed out by the state.

How do the Kennedy Expressway and other local Chicago roads generate income to not get continually bailed out by taxpayers?  Maybe that could be a model CTA can follow?

So rush hour travel is often a nightmare -- waiting through 6 or 7 cars for one to have 1/2 foot of cubic space to squeeze into, etc.

During rush hour, is it better to drive instead of taking congested trains?

As for the lack of traffic in the pix, I'd guess from the crowded sidewalks on Michigan Ave. that they were taken on a weekend. Weekday traffic in the Loop is crazy, and weekend traffic in some northside neighborhoods where there is shopping is insane.

They were taken on a Wednesday back in early June.  Most of the neighborhood shots were either taken later that Wednesday or on Thursday (the rainy day).

All this to say there is good and bad about every place -- I see lots of good in Jax since I'm new to it all, and I can see *definite* room for improvement. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later.

Definitely agree.  Hopefully, Jax can invest in ways that can make our urban core just as vibrant as many of the neighborhoods pictured in the photo tour.

[cybertique]

You guys did a bang up job on this!  I have live here for 3 years now and at first only used the trains to get around but the stations are few and far between.  Being from Jax I had a phobia of buses and had never rode one.  Now i almost exclusively ride the bus to get around.  Living downtown in the core offers me express bus service to almost anywhere.  I live by the Drake at the north end of Michigan Ave, the last stop for downtown and the bus lines run express up Lakeshore from here. This means you can access the entire north side of Chicago in 10 minutes.  I can step out of my building and catch a bus every few minutes, not much waiting.  The longest wait for a bus is during off hours or late a night and is usually no more than 12 minutes.  Additionally, I use the CTA bus tracker on my iphone and can time my elevator ride down to the street from my apt. on cold days.  Most of the buses are new clean air hybrid vehicles and are very nice to ride, always clean.  With a CTA card in my wallet I can hold the wallet up against the magnetic scanner on every train and bus and never need to worry about having cash or change, a registered credit card is charged electronically.  You do not even have to take the card out of the wallet.  Most of the CTA customers are well dressed business people.  I have 3 vehicles in FL and do not miss them at all when I am here in Chicago.   The transit system here is EXCELLENT and  the prime reason we do not own a vehicle or parking space, which BTW, averages 30K.

[copperfiend]

Great tour. Chicago is probably my favorite city to visit. I have a friend who moved up there a few years ago and lives in Andersonville. Brutal winters though.